Syllabus

GS 3: Environmental Conservation, pollution and degradation

Context: Recently, the prime minister of India launched the Aravalli Green Wall project on World Environment Day to combat the degradation of the Aravalli rang.

More on the News

• It will extend the 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' campaign.
• Inspired by Africa’s Great Green Wall, it focuses on reforesting 700 km of the Aravallis across 29 districts in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.
• The Haryana state government will soon begin work to restore 25,000 hectares of damaged forest land. 
• The Aravalli Range, known as the “lungs” of the National Capital Region (NCR), plays a vital role in maintaining clean air and ecological balance.
• In Haryana, 24,990.16 hectares of Recorded Forest Area (RFA) land will be restored in the first phase of the project. Of this, 3,852.73 hectares are in Faridabad and 6,063.73 hectares are in Gurgaon.
• The Aravalli range encompasses five other districts in Haryana: Nuh, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Mahendergarh, and Charkhi Dadri.
• In the first phase, 75 water bodies will be restored. The work will begin with five water bodies in each district across the Aravalli landscape.
• The plan has taken inspiration from Africa’s ‘Great Green Wall’ project, which began in 2007. This initiative stretches from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east.
• The Aravalli range and its buffer zones cover 3.11 lakh hectares, which is 38.7% of the total area (8.05 lakh hectares) of the districts involved.
  Nuh district has the highest recorded forest area (RFA) at 14,606 hectares.
  Charkhi Dadri is not included in the current phase as it has very little forest land—only 28 hectares.
• The project intends to:
  Replace alien invasive species with native species.
  Restore scrubland, wasteland, degraded forest and water bodies.
  Contribute to India’s commitment under the Paris Climate Agreement by creating a 2.5 billion tonnes carbon sink.

Key findings

• According to the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas by ISRO, around 97.85 million hectares—about 29.7% of India’s total land area—were degraded during 2018–19.
• The Aravalli region has been marked as a major degraded area to be restored as part of India’s goal to recover 26 million hectares of land.
• An earlier ISRO report from 2016 also showed that more than 50% of the land in Delhi, Gujarat, and Rajasthan was already degraded.

Aravalli Mountains 

• It is one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, dating back to over 3.2 billion years.
• The Aravalli range stretches from Champaner in southwest Gujarat to northeast Delhi and Haryana. 
• It serves as a natural barrier, preventing the spread of sand, hot winds (loo), and dust from the Thar Desert.
• It extends for about 700 km across four Indian states: Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.
• The highest peak: Guru Shikhar (1,722 meters), located in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.
• Rich in minerals: copper, zinc, lead, marble, gold, silver.
  Divided into two main sections in Rajasthan: the higher Sambhar-Sirohi and the ridged Sambhar-Khetri.

Mains Practice question

“Land degradation and desertification pose a serious threat to India’s ecological and economic stability. In this context, discuss the significance of the Aravalli Range in combating desertification.